Charles O'Herra
'Charles Edward O'Herra '(born 14th June 1198, Hythe, Principality of Hythe) is a human Special Agent of the Ka'lu'umil's newly founded National Intelligence Agency. Having served in its predecessor, the An-Xileel Intelligence Agency, for twenty-one years, he has served in a number of operations for both the Ka'lu'umil and the Combine, including the ones leading up to the Great War. Early Life and Career Charles was born in the coastal harbour of Hythe in 1198, a time where its local region, East Aedol, was afflicted by severe regionalism. Split into many small city states, the Principality of Hythe was merely a small duchy owning the immediate area around the eponymous city. Accordingly, the city of Hythe was afflicted by a meagre budget, an effect only exacerbated through the fact that its harbour had lost the global importance it once held; Neglected streets, an outdated infrastructure, high poverty and corruption were its symptoms. O'Herra was born to an immigrated family from Belryn, having fled from the incessant crime and poverty of that once-great city. His parents were lucky enough to find stable occupations within the Principality, thus offering Charles and his siblings a good upbringing and education - although he was always adamant about the awful state of Hythe, comparing its shoddy infrastructure and poverty to wealthier cities like Ahkriim and Ardor, thus fostering not only an intense hatred of Hythe's downtrodden state but also a fascination for both Ariilyth and the An-Xileel Empire. That hate and fascination met an interesting fate when the An-Xileel Empire annexed the Principality of Hythe in June 1205 after about a decade of de-facto suzerainty over it, so as to secure the city's harbour for itself from "foreign advances". Initially a shock, Charles eventually began to adore the occupiers, and gladly accepted Hythe's annexation into the Empire, almost treating it like a birthday gift, as he soon noticed countless construction troops as well as rich corporations move in. As Hythe's state rapidly improved, Charles' wish to keep it that way increased as well. Thus, after his eighteenth birthday in 1216, he joined the Hythe Police Department. Going from being a simple officer, he gradually rose through the ranks, being distinguished by his motivation and cunning. In early 1221, he was promoted to Detective. Detective Career While Hythe experienced an economic and cultural surge through the vast investments by the An-Xileel, the underground crime scene flourished. The black market grew in parallel to the harbour, and while automated surveillance took care of most of the obvious street crimes, deep-rooted corruption was a wholly different problem that had to be tackled with organic initiative. The HPD thus recruited a number of new detectives in the early 1220s, including O'Herra. Combatting the underground elements of Hythe was a long and tedious process that would take the next four years, which he retrospectively describes as where he matured as a law enforcer and person - beginning to take on a more realistic stance on nationalism, the An-Xileel and his own city. In this time, he and his colleagues began recognizing a deeper nature to Hythe's organized crime, going even deeper than black markets and smuggling. There was something more sinister hiding behind all of it. The Blackring Bust The fight against Hythe's organized crime reached its apex in 1225, after four years of focused work. Evidence and interviews collected over that span of time implied an organization or group being behind major underground organizations that had been busted by HPD, alongside cryptic statements that were largely taken as intimidation or deception. The Police Department's leadership contented itself with their already large trackrecord, thus not bothering - or not risking - to focus on what could be the culprit of it all. This came to much dismay to Charles, as he had personally discovered many of the earlier mentioned clues. Even though he proposed the idea to follow the lead several times to HPD's leadership, his ideas fell on deaf ears. O'Herra was fortunate enough to not be the only one who suspected a deeper nature such as that, as a number of his own partners and the forensic researcher and soon-to-be wife Sophie Foster supported him in his thesis. Charles's group of supporters henceforth acted as a concealed operation within the Hythe Police Department, working on deciphering the clues and performing further research on what was already known. The breakthrough came in March 1225, where Dr. Foster managed to decipher a number of clues giving the coordinates to a specific location within Hythe's antique Industrial-era sewage system, codenamed 'Blackring'. O'Herra and his partner, William Ingram, set privately out to investigate the location - what they discovered proved to be past their expectations. A nearly cult-like organization, sponsored by various outside sources, involved in child trafficking, enhancement smuggling and locally brewing insurgency. The evidence was presented to the Hythe Police Department on the same day, which culimated into Operation Blackring Bust, a massive and coordinated attack on the organization and its headquarters in Blackring, with 10 dead and 31 taken captive, no casualties on the HPD's side. Charles O'Herra made international news, but was also accused of disobedience by the Police Department's leadership. Unexpectedly, the An-Xileel Intelligence Agency stepped in and offered Charles O'Herra unconditional pardon as well as the unique chance to join their ranks as an agent due to his remarkable performance and initiative in this case. He immediately accepted. Category:Characters Category:Status: Alive Category:Humans Category:Lygians Category:Animus Characters